The redevelopment of Cork city centre took a significant step forward yesterday with the lodging of a planning application for a €450 million project on St Patrick Street.
The development on the site of the Irish Examiner's offices and adjacent properties will see the addition of 18,580sq m (200,000 sq ft) of retail to the city centre along with the creation of the first residential and retail street in more than 200 years.
According to O'Callaghan Properties, the development will create more than 1,400 full-time and part-time jobs in the retail complex while 500 jobs will be created during the construction phase, which is expected to take two years.
Managing director Owen O'Callaghan said: "It will attract retailers previously unable to locate in the city centre because of lack of space and facilitate those already trading who have been precluded from expanding."
He stressed that the project, which meets the objectives laid out in Cork City Council's development plan and the St Patrick's Street development brief, was not solely about retail and would result in an influx of some 200-300 new residents.
"The addition of living communities is a 'win-win' situation which will help to reverse the population decrease in the city centre of recent times and provide a feeling of safety at street level as a result of residential presence," Mr O'Callaghan said.
According to sources, Mr O'Callaghan paid almost €100 million in a series of property and lease deals over a two-year period to buy up the acre of land situated between Patrick Street, Academy Street, Emmet Place and Bowling Green Street.
The main deal was the purchase of the Irish Examiner building on Academy Street for a sum believed to have been €37 million from Thomas Crosbie Holdings Ltd, publisher of the Irish Examiner and Evening Echo newspapers.
The company, which has been at the Academy Street site for 165 years, has already moved its printing operation to Weboprint Concepts Ltd's new facility at Mahon Point while reporting, advertising and other staff are moving to a new office block at Lapp's Quay later this year.
The development consists of a seven-storey complex with the apartment complex, which incorporates 91 residential units, rising a further two storeys over a limited area, while the project also includes basement parking for 100 cars.
It also encompasses some 18 retail units ranging in size from 743 sq m to 2,322 sq m and, according to sources, it is expected to attract retailers such as Next, Zara, H & M and BT2.
A company spokesman said the project would include "the transformation of Faulkner's Lane from its current dark and uninviting state to a spacious and vibrant retail thoroughfare linking St Patrick Street and Emmet Place".
Among the challenges facing the company is the conservation of a historic Queen Anne period house on Emmet Place. It has availed of the expertise of conservation and architectural consultants in drawing up its plans.
The architectural challenge for the project was to integrate within this site a modern retail/ residential development while taking into consideration the existing shape of the settlement pattern, the spokesman said.
The project design was informed by the Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Areas 1987, drawn up by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which lays out the principles and objectives necessary for the conservation of historic towns and urban areas.
